by Burton, Mary
Thank God there was always business to discuss. “White female, midthirties. Gunshot wound to the head. I suspect sexual assault.”
He frowned. “Based on?”
“Bruising on the hips and thighs. She was also restrained, I think, based on raw marks around her waist. My gut tells me it’s the same guy.”
“Your gut?”
“Yeah.” She felt defensive. “Remember. Illogical emotion?”
“Right.”
Her ego bristled, but she let it go. “I need to roll her prints. Gage is itching for an ID.”
“Sure. I’ll do it now.” It took less than ten minutes before Dr. Butler had pressed the dead woman’s fingers into an inkpad and rolled the prints on a fingerprint card.
He handed it to her. “There you go.”
“Thanks.”
“You really don’t look well, Tess.”
“I’m just not sleeping well. Cases like this drive me a little nuts.”
Worry crept into his gaze. “That’s not good.”
“I know. I know. Don’t worry, I’ll keep it together for the sake of the case.”
“How about for your own sake?”
Was it his words, his soft, determined tone, or just the moment? Tess didn’t know which had her raising her gaze to his, and for the first time she felt a sense of calmness as if she’d reached the eye of a storm. “Thanks. I’ll be fine.”
An odd electricity shot through her body. Crap. What the hell was that about?
Gage and Vega pushed through the door. They had grim faces and both sported thick five o’clock shadows. Chances were neither would see their homes for days. Cops went nonstop until cases like this were solved.
Tess moved toward them and felt the tension in her muscles return. “We just arrived. I was filling in the doctor.”
Gage extended his hand to Alex. As Alex accepted Gage’s hand, the sinew in his own arm tightened. Alex might have been the brainy type but the guy could hold his own. She wasn’t sure why that mattered.
“Doc,” Gage said, “I’m hoping you can tell me something about Jane Doe sooner rather than later.”
Alex nodded. “I just rolled the prints. I’ll get to the autopsy as soon as I can.”
Jaw tightening, Gage swung his gaze on Dr. Butler like the barrel of a gun. “How soon?”
Alex didn’t flinch. In fact, he seemed anything but intimidated. Behind the calm she sensed steel. “Just as soon as I can.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Thursday, October 5, 8:00 a.m.
When Gage arrived at the county’s forensics lab, his shoulder felt as if it were filled with rocks. He’d spent most of the night sharing his notes with Warwick on the other two missing women. It had been a long, grueling session. He’d had time to go home, shower, and brew a strong pot of coffee before heading back to the county forensics lab.
More than a couple of times during the night Adrianna’s name had come up. He’d thought about her alone at her store working late into the night.
Shoving aside the gnawing worry, Gage pushed through the door of the examining room. Tess leaned over a microscope, adjusting the focus dial.
She didn’t glance up. “I think I know who your Jane Doe is. I’m just double-checking to be sure.”
“Give me what you have.”
“Tammy Borden.” Tess shifted the fingerprint to check another marker.
Energy shot through Gage. “Are you sure?”
“Ninety-nine percent. You know her?”
“Shit. I should have seen it yesterday. I knew she looked familiar.”
“Who is she?”
“She’s the drunk driver that hit Craig Thornton.”
Tess straightened. “Crap.”
Gage muttered an oath. “Another connection to Craig Thornton.”
“And Adrianna.”
Gage shook his head, shoved his hands in his pockets, and started to pace. “Damn.”
Warwick pushed through the doors. He’d showered and changed but looked as if he’d not slept. “What do you have?”
Gage gave him the update.
Warwick rested his hands on his hips. “You were right. Whoever is killing these women is connected to the Thorntons.”
“I want to release the gravesite and let the excavation continue. I’d bet money we’ll find Jill Lable there.”
“Nothing showed up on the radar earlier, correct?”
“We’re missing something. It’s in that graveyard. I’m certain.”
“All right. Dig away.”
Gage couldn’t find Adrianna at her shop or her mother’s. He’d left her several voicemail messages for her to call, but she’d returned none of them.
“Where the hell are you?” he said into the voicemail of her phone.
Gage slid it back in its holster as he climbed the stairs to the parole offices. The large room was filled with cubicles filled with officers and their parolees. He found Ethan Martinez’s cubicle in back of the room. Martinez, a heavyset guy with a white shirt and a loose black tie, leaned back in his chair, his phone pressed to his ear. When Gage knocked on the side of the booth, Martinez turned. Gage held up his badge and Martinez ended his call.
The springs on Martinez’s chair groaned as he pushed his bulk forward and up. “Yes, sir?”
“Gage Hudson, Henrico Police.” They shook hands.
“What can I do for you?”
“A question about one of your parolees.”
Martinez frowned and retook his seat. “Have a seat and tell me who’s done what to whom.”
Gage sat next to the desk piled high with files. There was a half-eaten jelly donut on a napkin next to a cup of black coffee. “Tammy Borden was found murdered yesterday. She’d been shot.”
Martinez turned to the folders in front of him and thumbed through the tabs until he found the right one halfway down. “She just got out two weeks ago. What happened?”
“She was found in a dump site off the access road to the landfill in the western part of the county. We know she was held for a couple of days, sexually assaulted, and shot.”
He opened the file, glanced at her picture, and then turned the file toward Gage. “Damn.”
Gage glanced at the sunken features of the woman, whose eyes were downcast. “What can you tell me about her?”
“She checked in with me as she was supposed to on Tuesday. She was shaky. Chain-smoked. She was finding it hard to stay sober now that she was on the outside. I suggested an AA meeting near her house.”
“Did she make the meeting?”
“Yeah. I called and checked behind her. Her meeting leader said she seemed committed to the program. Stayed for the whole thing.”
“Where was the meeting? And where does her mother live?”
Martinez rattled off names and numbers for both. “If she was in trouble, she never said a word to me. But then they don’t all see me as the good guy.”
Craig sat in the lobby of the Madison Hotel in a discreet corner, his back to the wall. He sipped an iced tea. Adrianna was late. She should have been here fifteen minutes ago and it wasn’t like her to be late. He’d been too busy today to keep tabs on her, but he’d not worried knowing she’d had a seven o’clock meeting here.
As he sipped his tea, his mind drifted back to the tape he’d made of his latest girl. A disappointment from the moment he’d taken her. Skinny, weak, almost too cooperative, she reminded him of a wounded animal. At least the other two had had some fight in them.
At least the other two had been more like Adrianna.
A waitress approached him with a pitcher of tea. “Fill up?”
He smiled and held up his glass as he glanced at her name tag. “Thanks, Jessie.”
Jessie smiled and filled up his glass. “Can I get you anything else?”
“Just the check when you get the chance.”
“Sure.”
“Appreciate it.”
He watched as she walked toward another table and spoke to anothe
r guest.
Jessie Hudson. She had fire. She had spirit and he’d bet anything she’d keep him entertained for days. Just the thought of her sent tremors of desire through him. He was under orders not to kill again. But he was starting to resent the rules and being told what to do.
He pulled a twenty out of his pocket and tossed it on the table. As he grabbed his keys and prepared to leave, Adrianna rushed through the front door of the hotel.
Smiling, he watched her vanish around a corner. Yes, sir, he was starting to really resent the rules.
Gage and Vega tracked down the group leader for the local AA meeting. He worked out of a church on Northside in a small office crammed full of books, pamphlets, and papers. “Dr. Stewart?”
A pale skinny man with reddish hair and glasses glanced up at them. “Yes?”
Gage and Vega pulled out their badges. “We’d like to ask you a couple of questions about the AA meeting you ran last week.”
Frowning he rose. “Which night?”
“Wednesday. One of the women who attended that meeting was found murdered. Tammy Borden.”
Shock gave him a ghostly pallor. “My God. What happened?”
“Can’t say right now, but I just need to know who was at the meeting.”
He glanced down as if trying to recall who had been there. “We had about eight people that night.”
“About?”
Dr. Stewart frowned. “Yes. We had eight. Tammy, of course, and seven others.”
“Men versus women?” Vega said.
“Four men and four women that night.”
“Anyone new?”
“Most of them, in fact. A couple of regulars, but the others, including Tammy, were first-timers. That happens a lot with that group. We get folks newly released from prison. Many start out gung-ho about sobriety but many fade away.”
“Tell me about the newcomers? Names, descriptions,” Gage said.
“We only ask for first names. Privacy is important in what we do.”
“Any first names?”
“John. Bill. Lois. Susie.” He shook his head. “I don’t remember the others.”
“Did anyone pay any particular attention to Tammy?” Gage said.
“No. In fact, she was very quiet. She smoked her cigarettes and listened as the others spoke. Most of our conversation was dominated by Bill, a regular. He has a tendency to go on and on about his ex-wife.”
“No one else said anything.”
“Lois talked about staying sober around the anniversary of her son’s death. John didn’t say much. Susie commented she’d reached her one-hundred-day mark. We congratulated her.” He gave descriptions of the others including a big guy and a short spindly woman.
“Who’d Tammy leave with?” Gage said
Dr. Stewart slid his hands into his pockets. “She left by herself.”
“Anyone see her drive off?”
“Now, that I don’t know. I left right after the meeting because I had to get home. The maintenance man always closes up the building. Let me ask.” He picked up the phone and dialed a number. After brief words, he hung up. “Clarence will be right here.”
“Great. And you meet here every Wednesday?”
“Yes.”
“At six?” Gage said.
“Yes.”
“Do you have names or phone numbers for anyone who were there that night?”
“No. Again, privacy is important.”
“And they’ll meet next Wednesday?”
“At six. No guarantees who will be there.”
“I understand.” Gage would attend the meeting.
Dr. Stewart shook his head. “This is just awful about Tammy. I did visit with her once or twice while she was still in prison.”
“Really?”
“She wanted to make amends. She was particularly interested in gaining the forgiveness of the widow of the man she killed. I know they corresponded a few times.”
Gage lifted his gaze from the notepad. “What was the widow’s name?”
“I don’t remember. But it sounded rich. Tammy commented that the man she hit came from a wealthy family.”
“Did the widow ever give Tammy her forgiveness?” Vega said.
“The woman had lost a husband and a child. That kind of grief is hard to lose.”
Clarence, a willowy Asian man, appeared in the doorway. “Dr. Stewart, you wanted to see me.”
Dr. Stewart explained the situation. “Did you see anything?”
“I saw a woman in her car and the hood was up. She waved me away. Said not to worry. And I was late for my next job.”
“Is the car still in the lot?” Gage said.
Dr. Stewart shrugged. “I’m not sure. Let’s go see.”
As they walked out to the parking lot, Vega kept glancing at Gage. Finally, Gage lost patience. “What?”
“It’s bothering you, isn’t it?” Vega said.
“What?”
“Adrianna has a motive to kill all three victims.”
“She didn’t kill them.”
“You sure you’re objective?”
“Yes.”
They found the car parked under a tree. It was an old beater, rusty red, with a black interior. Gage tried the door handle. It was unlocked. He glanced inside the car but saw nothing other than a couple of fast-food wrappers. The ashtray was full.
“Why didn’t you have it towed?” Gage said.
“We had a couple of church mission trips leave out of here last week. They’re not due back until Saturday and I thought it might be one of their cars.” He shook his head. “I didn’t realize it was Tammy’s.”
Vega moved to the front of the car. “Pop the hood.”
Gage opened the driver’s side door and pulled the latch. Keys dangled from the ignition. “Anything?”
Vega lifted the hood. “Loose wires.”
Gage turned the keys. The radio came on but the engine didn’t turn. “Not clever, but effective.”
Robbing Peter to pay Paul—stealing time from one part of her life to give to another. It had been the theme of Adrianna’s life for the last three years. Today was no exception. She dashed between two job sites today—a furniture installation and a house that needed design changes so that it could be sold.
There’d been a couple of messages from Gage but she’d not bothered to call him back. They did need to talk but she just didn’t have the time now.
She rushed to the front desk and asked the clerk to buzz Cary. The woman appeared minutes later and soon they were reviewing the last of the auction particulars.
By the time the meeting wrapped and the final details were set for tomorrow night’s auction, she was tired, hungry, and her nerves shot. As she moved across the lobby of the hotel, the laughter from the bar caught her attention. God, it had been so long since she’d laughed. So long since she’d been around people.
Clutching her purse, she stopped short of the revolving doors and turned back around. She’d have a half glass of wine and dinner. It wasn’t so much that she wanted the food or the wine, but she wanted to be around the living.
Adrianna moved to the chrome bar and took a seat. The place was crowded, not so unusual, she supposed, on a Friday night. Most of the patrons wore dark suits, white shirts, and red ties, a sign they’d all just arrived from an office somewhere close. Her deep aqua wrap dress, a thick, gold manacle bracelet, and shoulder-length blond hair made her the odd splash of color in the sea of gray.
She raised her hand for the bartender, who crossed immediately. A note of appreciation flashed in the bartender’s eyes as he set a bowl of nuts down in front of her. “What can I get you?”
“White wine.”
The bartender nodded and placed a clean cocktail napkin in front of her. “Will do.”
She picked a cashew out of the bowl. It tasted good and reminded her she’d not eaten much today. She ate a few more bites, feeling her nerves calm. Seconds later, the bartender set a chilled glass of wine in front of her
. She sipped it, enjoying the taste. In the last two years, she’d had no time for pleasures like this. Perhaps she’d have a good steak dinner. Just take care of yourself.
“I’ve never seen you before.” The male voice came from behind her.
She sipped her wine but didn’t turn in his direction, hoping he was talking to someone else.
A tall, lean man slid onto the bar stool beside her. He had a crop of blond hair and wore a nice suit. He grabbed a handful of nuts from the bowl in front of her and popped a few in his mouth. “My name is Vince.”
Adrianna smiled. “Hey, Vince, I’ve had a long, long day. I’m not looking for conversation.”
Vince ordered a Scotch, settling into his spot. “How do you know? Maybe conversation is what you need.”
The moments of calm faded. She sipped her wine and ignored him.
“So why are you here?”
“Just having a drink by myself.”
Vince accepted his Scotch from the bartender and put a ten on the bar. “I’m good company.”
“No, thanks.”
“You sure about that?”
She glanced at the bartender. “How much do I owe you?”
The bartender glanced at her nearly full glass of wine and frowned. “Four bucks.”
Vince raised a bushy brow. “Hey, what’s your rush?”
She didn’t make eye contact as she dug a twenty out of her purse. “Like I said, I’ve had a long day.”
“Maybe you should loosen up and spend time with someone like me,” Vince said.
“No, thanks.” She snapped her clutch closed.
“What’s with you?” Vince said. “I just want to have a little conversation. Maybe buy you some dinner.”
She pushed the twenty toward the bartender and glanced at her wine, which she’d barely touched. “And I said no to both.”
Vince rose and blocked her exit. “A woman dressed like you in a bar does not want to be left alone.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what she wants.” Gage’s deep voice came from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, discovering he was so close she could feel his body heat.
Vince glanced up at the guy. “Who are you?”